Day of your child's surgery

Oak Lawn campus

Surgery in the Medical Center: Park in Lot E, located on Kilbourn Avenue between 93rd and 95th streets, and walk across Kilbourn to enter through Entrance F. You’ll take elevator D, where you can look for the Day Surgery registration desk to check in.

Surgery in the Outpatient Pavilion: Go to Parking Tower D on the west side of Kilbourn Avenue, across the street from the Outpatient Pavilion at 95th Street. Use the covered, second-level pedestrian bridge to walk to the Outpatient Pavilion and the second-floor surgery center desk to check in. Free valet service also is available in front of the Outpatient Pavilion on the ground level from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Park Ridge campus

Surgery in the Main Hospital or Ambulatory Surgery Center: Drive to the main parking garage located on the front driveway of the hospital. Free valet parking is offered at the front entrance from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Surgery registration is located near the 1st-floor information desk.

Vital signs and physical: Your child will go back to the pre-surgical area to change into a gown and prepare for surgery. We’ll check their vital signs, take a brief history, and perform a physical.

Preparing for surgery: The surgeon and anesthesiologist will answer any questions you have. Your child might receive an oral sedative to relax them depending on their age. Children ages 10 and over will get an IV.

Hugs and kisses: You can walk with your child up to the doors of the operating room, at which time you can give hugs and kisses before they head into surgery.

Once inside the operating room, your child will receive additional anesthesia through a breathing mask. Most children are asleep within five minutes.

At the Oak Lawn campus, you can wait in the Surgery Family Waiting Room on the 1st floor of the hospital. You’ll be assigned a case number, which you can check on a screen in the waiting room to monitor the progress of your child’s surgery.

At the Park Ridge campus, you can wait in the Surgery Lounge or schedule a private waiting room. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can also stop by the Family Resource Center if you need computer or printer access; it’s open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A surgical nurse liaison will check in hourly on the patients in the operating room. They will touch base with you once there’s an update on your child.

We're committed to working together with our patients to prevent infection. During your child’s surgery, we’ll provide antibiotics to your child (medications that prevent infections) and clean their skin with special products that help kill germs. We’ll also monitor body temperature, blood sugar, and other vital signs.

Steps your child’s surgeon may take during surgery to prevent infection include:

• Scrubbing their hands and arms with an antiseptic
• Washing hands with soap and water or no-rinse hand wash before and after taking care of your child
• Clipping your child’s hair with electric clippers to remove any hair in the area of the surgery
• Wearing special hair covers, masks, gowns, and gloves
• Giving your child an antibiotic in the operating room within an hour of making an incision
• Cleaning the skin at the site of your child’s surgery with a special soap that kills germs.

Depending on your child’s surgery, we may provide you with antibacterial wipes to wash your child pre-surgery. We also may apply a povidone iodine-based antiseptic to your child’s nostrils.